While the terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the startup will use the proceeds to acquire 10,000 retailers across three cities.Biswarup Gooptu | ET Bureau | May 23, 2016, 20:23 IST

Mumbai-based Appie Mobiquity, which owns and operates offline-to-online (O2O) retail discovery platform Appie, has raised a bridge round of about $1 million (Rs 6.65 crore) from an undisclosed list of investors.

While the terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the startup will use the proceeds to acquire 10,000 retailers across three cities in the first year, and close to half a million users, according to a press statement released by the startup.

"The recent capital infusion will enable us to launch and develop our brand and its other multi-dimensional aspects. It will also give us the bandwidth to reach out to our consumers more effectively. Being chosen by the angel investors for such an important investment validates the investor confidence in our concept and vision and invigorates us for our future course. We are also actively discussing several strategic tie ups," said Kartik Sanghavi, founder of Appie Mobiquity.

India’s ecommerce companies have been betting heavily on the O2O segment, as they look to deepen their presence in the country’s vast, yet largely unorganised, retail segment, by bringing local commerce establishments online.

In December last year, Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led Paytm acquired online marketplace for hyper-local services, Near.in, a cash-and-stock deal estimated at between $1.5-$2 million, its first buyout since securing $680 million in funding commitments from Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Group, and its affiliate Ant Financial.

"We, at Appie are building a fairly evolved business model after taking in to consideration the collective knowledge of our experienced team members as well as studying and understanding the nuances of consumer behavior and how they love to shop," Sanghavi said.

Appie competes with a host of startups operating in a similar space, including, Fashalot and Ratale.